Technicolour Rain is like Hotline Miami if you could possess and control the guards

It's Monday morning and the games industry is asleep. Before it wakes and starts vomiting news from every orifice, let's jump into a neat new game. From the top-down perspective, to the colour palette and soundtrack sensibilities, there's more than a little of Hotline Miami to be found in Technicolour Rain . Here, though, you can possess a level's guards, sending them to do your dirty work with no danger to your own fragile frame. The game is still in development, but you can now play an early demo for free .

"Technicolour Rain is a top-down shooter where you're given the ability to possess and control your enemies. Using "copies", you're able to perform a variety of skills including creating distractions and killing enemies within a certain radius. The game is also open for modding - you can create your own sprites, tiles and more in order to use them in your own custom maps."

The demo build contains two chapters, but also gives access to the game's level editor.

Having played that demo this morning, I'm not yet sure if the superpowers make much meaningful difference yet. It's cool being able to initiate a fight – picking exactly when to open fire on unsuspecting enemies. And the charge meter gives you a sense of urgency that still forces mistakes. That said, all you're really doing is creating small safe-windows for progression, and there are plenty of times when you're as effective just doing the job yourself.

Still, the idea is well executed, and with work Technicolour Rain could be a worthy addition to the top-down ultra-violence genre. Check it out for yourself here .

Thanks, WarpDoor .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.